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Tipu Sultan - Tiger of Mysore

saalamAlaikum
“Study of history sends ambition high, draws towards virtues and keeps away from vices.” (The History of Islam) This is an excerpt from the book Muslims In India by Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi talking about the personality Tipu Sultan.

TIPU SULTAN

Muslims have played a very significant role in the national struggle for freedom against British in India. They have been in the forefront of it. It was after all, from Muslim hands that the British had taken India. When British Imperialism was spreading over the country and devouring one province after the other, the first man to realize the gravity of the danger was the lion hearted Tipu Sultan, King of Mysore. He saw clearly that unless determined efforts were made in time, the whole of India would ultimately be swallowed up by the British. With this resolve, he unsheathed his sword and jumped into a fierce, life and death struggle against the British.

Tipu Sultan made a valiant bid to unite the Indian princes against British. He even wrote to Sultan Salim III of Turkey to join hands with him for the expulsion of British. His whole life was spent in the struggle. He came on the verge of success, the English were about to be swept out of the land, but they managed to achieve through diplomacy what they could not gain by arms. They cleverly obtained the support of some rulers of the South and by the use of other methods of treachery and deceit defeated the gallant son of Mysore. Tipu Sultan was finally killed in the thick battle on May 4, 1799. He preferred death to a life of servitude under the British. His famous, historic, words spoken a little before he met his death were: “To live for a day like a tiger is far more precious than to live for a hundred years like a jackal.”

Re: Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan sent a letter to his neighboring state Nizam Shahi to join him against the British. Shia minister of Nizam Shahi wrote back to Tipu saying that he would rather support the British. After that Tipu wrote to the king of Afghanistan and Napoleon for help against the British. Plan was to crush the British from three sides. When King of Afghanistan reached Lahore on his way to Dehli, the British got worried. They gathered the prominent Shias of Lahore and sent them to the Shah of Iran for help. Shah of Iran started a revolt in Kabul and the king of Afghanistan had to go back to save his own crown.

I have heard that British were also able to get a fatwa from a so called Shaykh al-Islam of Ottoman Empire against Tipu.

Lastly, Tipu Sultan was betrayed by his Shia minister, Meer Sadiq, who had consipired with the British. This was the fall of Mysore.

Re: Tipu Sultan

Assalam o alaykum,

Dr. Qiyyam al-Din Ahmad, professor of history at Patna University, wrote a book named Hindustan Main Wahhabi Tahreek and Professor Muhammad Muslim Saleem Azimabaddi translated it into Urdu. Professor Saleem writes in the preface:

When Tipu Sultan [may Allah mercy on him] declared Jihad against the British and invited the Muslims of North India to join him; British requested Sultan Saleem of Ottoman Empire that he get Shaykh al-Islam to write a fatwa declaring that since the British don’t meddle in the religious sacraments/affairs of Muslims, Jihad against them is not permissible. Tipu Sultan had received the helped of French against the British and there were many French officers in his army. At that time France was under Napoleon. Sultan Saleem hated the fact that Tipu is in alliance with the French. So he accepted the request of the British and provided them with the so called fatwa. British propagated this fatwa with the help of some of the sell-out ulama and had them wrote rasail against Jihad. This method of British was so affective that Muslims of North India didn't support Tipu Sultan and he was martyred at last.

He mentions that later on British used the same tactic against the movement of Syed Ahmad shaheed and Shah Ismail shaheed [may Allah have mercy on them]. Wahhabis were not only against Ottomans but they didn’t get along with British as well. British didn’t hold Wahhabis in high regard so British used this tactic in the sub-Continent and labeled the freedom fighters of India as Wahhabis. They had nothing to do with the Wahhabi movement nor were they contemporaries of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab. Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab passed away in 1792 while Syed Ahmad and Shah Ismail went for Hajj much later. A time came when British would label any religious individual as Wahhabi and send him to the islands of Kala Pani (Andaman and Nicobar Islands). British had sell-out Ulama to issue fatawas and write books against the freedom fighters. Unfortunately, many sincere Muslims fell for this British trap as well.

"Fateh Ali Tipu Sultan of Mysore is represented by foreign historians as a fanatic who oppressed his Hindu subjects and converted them to Islam by force. But he was nothing of the kind. On the other hand his relations with his Hindu subjects were of a perfectly cordial nature..."

Re: Tipu Sultan - Tiger of Mysore

Re: Tipu Sultan

Originally Posted by khanbaba

Tipu Sultan sent a letter to his neighboring state Nizam Shahi to join him against the British. Shia minister of Nizam Shahi wrote back to Tipu saying that he would rather support the British. After that Tipu wrote to the king of Afghanistan and Napoleon for help against the British. Plan was to crush the British from three sides. When King of Afghanistan reached Lahore on his way to Dehli, the British got worried. They gathered the prominent Shias of Lahore and sent them to the Shah of Iran for help. Shah of Iran started a revolt in Kabul and the king of Afghanistan had to go back to save his own crown.

I have heard that British were also able to get a fatwa from a so called Shaykh al-Islam of Ottoman Empire against Tipu.

Lastly, Tipu Sultan was betrayed by his Shia minister, Meer Sadiq, who had consipired with the British. This was the fall of Mysore.